February

What should have been a pretty fun month turned out to be a really miserable one. We were excited to celebrate the boys’ 3rd birthday and because it fell on President’s Day and both Matt and I would have the day off, and we planned to have a family party on the Saturday before their birthday which would have been Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately on the Friday before their party, February 13th, both of the boys got sick. We knew right away that it was bad and so we took them to the doctor that day not wanting to wait through the weekend. Of course our pediatrician was not there so we saw the physician’s assistant who told us that the boys most likely had RSV and that there wasn’t a lot that could be done other than treating the symptoms. We went home and had a miserable couple of days with them. By Sunday they both still had high fevers, coughs, vomiting, and an added bonus of green goop seeping from their eyes. I called the on-call doctor who called in a prescription for some eye drops and said if their fevers had not come down by Tuesday to call back. Monday, the boys actual birthday, my parents came over and we tried to celebrate a little. Neither of the boys felt well enough to even get off of the couch, and they wanted nothing to do with their presents, but we gave it to them anyways. I felt so bad for them, they were really sick. These are pics of their birthday, mostly of us trying to coax them into being excited about their birthday. As you can see it didn't work very well.

Tuesday during the day there was a little relief when Spencer’s fever finally came down under 100°. I felt encouraged by the news and decided not to call the doctor thinking Carter wouldn’t be far behind. I was wrong though and we had another miserable night of high fevers, vomiting, coughing, etc. We called the doctor the next morning and made an appointment. I went to school and Matt volunteered to take them in that afternoon with my mom. At the doctor’s office when they checked Carter’s oxygen levels they were in the low 70’s and Spencer’s were in the mid 80’s. It was decided that they would need to take Carter the Primary’s by ambulance because his levels were so low. Luckily my mom was there and she went with Carter while Matt followed with Spencer. There’s nothing like getting a call that your child is being taken by ambulance to the hospital to get your heart racing. By the time I got there both of the boys had been admitted to the ER and Carter was hooked up to oxygen and probes and all sorts of fun stuff. He was not a happy camper when I snapped this picture of him in the ER.


There were lots of doctors and nurses examining him and asking lots of questions. They ended up doing a chest x-ray and finding out that he had pneumonia, and bronchiolitis. They admitted him to the hospital and said he would have to stay there until he could keep his oxygen levels up on his own. Spencer got off pretty easy, they sent him home with a prescription for an antibiotic because he had an ear infection. He stayed with my mom and dad that night. Carter was not happy most of that first night in the hospital. They hooked him up to an IV which he hated, he had the oxygen going up his nose which he hated and kept trying to tear off, he had a probe on his toe to monitor his oxygen levels which he also hated, and then they did a couple of breathing treatments with him which he screamed through and had to be held down. It was awful. They also had to suction him a couple of times with these long tubes the stick up your nose and down the back of your throat. He really hated that too. It was a long night for all of us, but he finally fell asleep exhausted and I rested when I could. I snapped this picture of him late at night with my phone so it’s not the best:

By the next day Carter wasn’t fighting the oxygen as much and seemed like he might actually be feeling better. Matt and I took turns between being home with Spencer and at the hospital with Carter. Because Spencer was sick too he couldn’t come up to the hospital and it was hard because I felt torn between the two of them. It was also hard on them to be apart. While in the hospital they gave Carter a few cars and trucks to play with and Carter set one aside that was for Spencer and wouldn’t let anyone else play with it. He really missed Spencer. We spent four nights at the hospital before Carter was able to come home. Matt brought him home late Sunday night and he was so excited to see Spencer, and his toys and to just be home. It was really cute to see the smile on his face when he walked through the door. The first thing he said was, “Mom, my house is a mess!” And then it was cute to hear Carter and Spencer talk and talk and talk to each other. We all slept great that night and it was a nice feeling to have everyone home. Here they are reunited and having fun.